[Tower of Eternity — Final Floor, 100th Level]
The sky was blackened fire.
Each breath of wind carried the ash of forgotten gods. Mountains lay crumbled like paper beneath the boots of a single man.
Wang Ling stood alone.
The others were gone—either dead in the climb or consumed by their own ambition.
Only he had reached the top.
He didn't laugh.
He didn't cry.
There was nothing left inside him to react.
"You've cleared the final floor."
"System Authority: Full Ascension Granted."
The voice that had haunted him for years echoed in the clouds, serene, as if it hadn't driven thousands of men insane with its cold, detached tone.
Wang Ling looked down at his hand. It was stained with blood — most of it not his.
"Level 999."
"All that for this…"
He was human once.
Now? Something more. Something beyond it.
The world was no longer his to return to — he had outgrown it.
And yet...
"Now."
The word was sharp. Familiar.
He turned.
They stepped out of the mist like ghosts of his past. The final five. The ones who had once stood behind him, laughing, joking, bleeding.
Now they stood with weapons drawn.
Their eyes were calm. Dead. Like they had already mourned his passing.
"Thank you for getting us here, Wang Ling," the Saintess said softly. "But the gods demand one vessel."
"Only one of us can ascend," the Hero added, his hand gripping the hilt of the blade Wang Ling had once given him. "You understand… don't you?"
He didn't move.
There was no surprise in his gaze.
Only disgust.
"I carried you bastards floor by floor."
"You wouldn't have made it past ten without me."
The Healer flinched.
The Shadowblade didn't.
They struck together. Shadows, flames, divine light.
The final betrayal.
Wang Ling did not scream.
He simply fell — back first — into the tower's abyss.
As the Tower collapsed behind him, he smiled.
Not out of joy.
But because he knew something they didn't.
[System Emergency Detected]
[Fatal Condition Confirmed. Activating Absolute Regression.]
[Synchronizing Soul Signature: Wang Ling]
[Target Timeline Located...]
[Initiating Transfer in 3... 2... 1...]
[13 Days Before Tower Descent]
[Location: Eastern Zenith University, Sector 12 Dormitory]
He woke to silence.
No system beeps. No dimensional tears. No scent of sulfur or blood.
Just the faint hum of a ceiling fan and the scent of detergent.
A cracked ceiling.
An old, beaten desk beside his bed.
"…This dorm."
He sat up slowly.
The sheets slid off him like discarded skin.
The weight of divine power was gone.
So were the scars.
So was the pain.
Only a thin, untrained body remained.
The body of Wang Ling, age twenty-one. A nobody. A student. A target.
He stepped toward the mirror.
The man who looked back at him was too beautiful. Almost inhuman. Feminine, even — but there was no softness in those eyes.
There never had been.
"They called me a pretty boy."
"Said I was weak. Said I'd die first."
"They weren't wrong."
He had died a thousand times.
But now, he had returned.
[System Reinitialized]
[Welcome, Player Wang Ling]
[Regression Authority Confirmed: Level and Experience Retained Mentally]
[Physical Stats Reset]
Level: 1
Class: Unassigned
Title: The One Who Returned Alone
The System's interface flickered to life before him, floating in translucent violet script.
"Class selection available."
He knew the choices by heart. He had studied every branch. Watched the meta shift over years of bloodshed.
But this time… the system wasn't offering the same ones.
[Due to Regression Trait: Monarch of Control Class Unlocked]
Available Class Paths:
• Arcane Swordsman
• Temporal Vanguard
• Monarch of Control (Unique)
"You walk without allies. You dominate without permission."
"Your path is absolute."
He didn't hesitate.
"Monarch of Control."
[Class: Monarch of Control Confirmed]
Skill Unlocked: Command – Lv.1
Passive Effect Gained: Authority Reigns
You suppress lower entities within a 5-meter radius.
They will bow. Or break.
Wang Ling exhaled.
The weight returned.
Not physical. But mental. Spiritual.
The soul of the man who had reached Level 999 had never left.
Now it wore the skin of a student again.
He looked out the window.
Students walked the campus, laughing.
They had no idea.
In 13 days, a hole would rip open in the sky.
And from that hole, the Tower would descend.
Their world would become a dungeon.
Their cities — tutorial floors.
And most of them would die before they understood what killed them.
"They think the apocalypse hasn't started yet."
"They're wrong."
"It started the moment I opened my eyes."
[Main Quest Updated]
Tutorial Floor Access: Opening in 3 Days
Objective: Survive. Kill. Level.
Failure: Permanent Death.
Reward: +1 Level | Class Advancement System Unlocked
"No teammates. No friends. No love."
"They broke the last version of me."
"This time... I break the Tower."